1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an article for earth engineering to provide drainage control adjacent to the foundation wall of a static structure, such as a building. The same article also provides a container for decorative landscaping material and a mulch for the prevention of unwanted plant growth.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In the past many techniques have been utilized to provide protection for foundation walls from water and water seepage. The most common techniques include the expendients of coating the external surfaces of the foundation walls with a waterproofing or water inhibiting coating prior to backfilling with dirt around the foundation. Other common and inexpensive techniques include the placement of drainage tile around the foundation walls prior to backfilling. U.S. Pat. No. 2,050,798 (Korthe) discloses the use of a protective layer in the form of a smooth waterproof membrane attached to the foundation wall, preferably above grade level, and then laid into an excavation around the wall at a downward angle away from the wall, followed by the replacement of soil upon the membrane. This form of protection inherently results in water flowing downward over the membrane so that it is carried down into the soil around the foundation where, as water will always do, it seeks its own level. When seeking its own level the possibility exists for the water to easily percolate under the membrane and then rise between the membrane and the foundation wall, thus allowing it to seep into contact with and through the foundation wall.
It has also been known in the prior art to place protective sheets in the ground, vertically against foundation walls; such sheets including dimples, studs or other protrusions to provide air circulation between the sheets and the foundation wall to encourage drainage away from the walls, to provide insulation to the wall, and to facilitate drying of the foundation walls after they have become wet, for example as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,888,087 (Bergsland). This form of protection does little to keep drainage water from being adjacent to or contacting the foundation wall.
It is also common practice to place a gutter or splash block on the ground below a down spout in order to prevent roof drainage water from eroding the soil and draining into the ground at the foundation wall. Such splash blocks are normally isolated, and in the form of a channel walled on three sides and completely open at the end placed furthest from the building structure. Such splash blocks are normally quite heavy, for example being made from concrete, and weighing 12 pounds per square foot, or more, and are therefore difficult for one person to place or move.
Various mulches have been used to control water seepage, water evaporation, weed growth, and as underlayers for decorative landscaping materials. These mulches include a wide variety of materials, ranging from plant material, to flat boards, and flexible sheet material such as tar paper and flexible plastic. Such mulches have been used at grade level around buildings, and when intact can prevent water seepage at a foundation wall. However, most of these mulches are useful for perhaps only one or two seasons at the best, as they are subject to deterioration, mechanical shifting, puncturing and other problems which limit their useful life. For example, where a sheet of tar paper or a film of plastic, typically 0.5 to 6.0 mils. (0.013 to 0.15 mm) thick, is used as a mulch and covered with, for example, decorative rock, almost any pressure transmitted to the surface of the film will cause the sheet to be punctured. A multiplicity of punctures in the film eventually results in the rapid loss of utility of such a sheet as a mulch or waterproofing article.
It is therefore seen that while there are many prior art articles and methods for avoiding the seepage of water around foundation walls, and for providing mulching and support for decorative materials, there is no known technique or article which is placed at grade level around a foundation wall, is lightweight, mechanically and physically stable and which is substantially impervious to being punctured or broken in usage.